Everyone Knows What You Did Last Night

Well now this is just getting silly. The email in question basically says “She is a person who has a right to privacy,” and the writer for Breibart basically claims that this is PROOF OF A MASSIVE CONSPIRACY TO COVER UP RELEVANT NEWS!

Well, there you have it, Zoe Quinn doesn’t deserve privacy because WE LIKE TO READ ALL THE LURID DETAILS OF HER SEX LIFE! (Capitals are mostly for emphasis on conspiracy). This whole thing reads like a tabloid paper. You know what? With evidence, there may be something worthwhile to read — but right now, it has mostly devolved into shit flinging. Sometimes, as below, it is professional shit flinging (or at least, professionally presented shit flinging, which is the equivalent of putting suits on the monkeys).

There is certainly something to be said for open collusion, but their evidence of a massive mailing list that controls all of gaming media consists of someone in an industry emailing someone else in the industry saying that “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t ruin this woman’s life.” And of course, as per this article (and the comments), THAT IS STEPPING OVER THE LINE! This should be illegal! HOW COULD HE SAY HE DOESN’T WANT TO RUIN HER LIFE? I WANT HER LIFE RUINED FOR MY AMUSEMENT!

Look, gaming journalism is incestuous; the only people who advertise with gaming journalists are the people who the journalists are writing about. That is a problem, and it came flying wildly to light during the Gamespot/Gerstman scandal years ago (but we got Giant Bomb out of that, so I’d say we won that round).

In any case, I do not think they are innocent… But all of the evidence I have seen of this massive conspiracy is Kyle Orland and Ben Kuchera saying, effectively, “Stop being such raging, AIDS infected cock-holes.”

If saying “Don’t ruin her life,” is completely out of bounds, why don’t want just skip the middle man and say people in the same industry aren’t allowed to talk to each other.

This isn’t me being some kind of SJW, I just think this whole thing is silly, and requires people to step back and look at it with a level head. The linked article (and there are many like it) are effectively turning gaming journalism into TMZ. Admittedly, people like tabloids, so this is making tons of people tons of money — but I do not want my gaming journalism to be a tabloid.

Do you think I am exaggerating? Taking this to an absurd length? If so, let me know if any of these statements trip your TMZ detector:

LOOK WHO ZOE QUINN IS SLEEPING WITH THIS WEEK!

Have you seen this email from Kyle Orland? IT WILL SHOCK YOU!

BEHIND THE SCENES AT KOTAKU! Do you know how your money is being spent?!

You know what? I don’t give a flying shit about who one indie developer is sleeping with. Shit, I don’t even care if there is some group of editors colluding about how to speak about a topic, if their “massive conspiracy” is “stop being cock-holes.”

Gaming journalism isn’t all that interesting as it is; it is trailers and release dates, reviews on the side. It barely qualifies as journalism, honestly. When they have something interesting to say, then I will care about corruption.